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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

The Perinatal Asphyxiated Lamb Model: A Model for Newborn Resuscitation
Published on: August 15, 2018
Maternal asthma and transient tachypnea of the newborn
K Demissie1, S W Marcella, M B Breckenridge
1Department of Family Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903-0019, USA.
Objective:
To examine the relationship between transient tachypnea of the newborn and asthma complicating pregnancy.
Design:
Historical cohort analysis. Setting. Singleton live deliveries in New Jersey hospitals during 1989 to 1992 (n = 447 963).
Patients:
Mother-infant dyads were identified from linked birth certificate and maternal and infant hospital claims data. Women with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnosis code (493) for asthma (n = 2289) were compared with a four-fold larger randomly selected control sample (n = 9156) from the remaining pool of women.
Main Outcome Measure:
Transient tachypnea of the newborn.
Results:
In the overall sample, after controlling for the confounding effects of important variables, infants of asthmatic mothers were more likely [odds ratio (OR), 1. 79; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.35-2.37] than infants of control mothers to exhibit transient tachypnea of the newborn. A stratified analysis by gestational age and sex revealed larger and statistically significant associations in term infants (OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.42-2.87) as opposed to preterm infants (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 0.94-2.43) and in male infants (OR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.35-2.71) as opposed to female infants (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 0.92-2.47). On the other hand, after adjusting for important confounding variables, respiratory distress syndrome and maternal asthma were not found to be associated (OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 0.79-1.64).
Conclusion:
The results of this study provide evidence that maternal asthma is a risk factor for transient tachypnea of the newborn and differences in gestational age and sex were apparent in this association. The mechanism for this association remains to be determined.
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